


When You Were Young

by Alcemistnv



Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Eggsy & Roxy Bromance, Eggsy is a Little Shit, M/M, Pining, Sorry Not Sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-06 03:22:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11591889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alcemistnv/pseuds/Alcemistnv
Summary: "He doesn't look a thing like JesusBut he talks like a gentlemenLike you imagined when you were young"I was inspired by the song, and decided to dive deeper into Eggsy's thought processes before and after meeting the man who would essentially save him and his family.





	1. Before

**Author's Note:**

> Written from a Third point of view because I sure as hell cannot type the proper dialect for these characters. Kudos to those who can, but I feel that most often than not, my own new York city dialect comes out, rather than that belonging to the characters.
> 
> I also obviously do not own any of the characters.

_You sit there in your heartache_  
Waiting on some beautiful boy to  
To save your from your old ways  
You play forgiveness  
Watch it now, here he comes  
He doesn't look a thing like Jesus  
But he talks like a gentlemen  
Like you imagined when you were young 

Eggsy doesn’t remember too much about the day when his mom was informed of his father’s death. He didn’t exactly know at the time what was really going on, or why his mom behaved the way she did. He did know about the medal, and the little motto of “Oxfords, not brogues.” He didn’t know anything about the man who gave it to him, and as a 7 year old, he kinda just figured it was one of his dad’s coworkers. So he took the medal, remembered the motto, and went on to playing with his toys.

Years later, when his mom became involved with Dean, he thought about calling the number on the back of the medal. He wanted to know if someone could help him get out of the hellhole he and his mom were in. “The favor can only be used once,” he remembered his mom saying when he was younger. And so he made sure to use that favor when it was most important. Not now, not when Dean wasn’t that big of a problem. He knew that with time, Dean would become less and less of an issue.

It wasn’t true. Eggsy was foolish to think that Dean would leave after a month. Months became years. And after years came Daisy. Oh, his little flower, his lovely little sister. From what he saw, none of her resembled Dean. She had more of their mom than she had of her abusive father. And Eggsy was so happy when she was born. And he was also so protective. As a big brother should be.

While Eggsy would fiddle with the medal at night, or while grabbing a pint with his friends, he began to realize that he was slowly forgetting the motto. It was something about Oxfords, but, what else was there? His now mature brain danced around the thought of whether the favor was even still good. What could he even use it for, if he remembered that motto? Money? A house? Dean to never find them again? He wasn’t sure, and the one night he was laying in his bed, he wondered if maybe one of his father’s coworkers would visit and give them whatever they asked. Why couldn’t the police have come and notified his mother about his father dying? Why did they choose a coworker? A man in a suit? What kind of work was his father doing that they couldn’t even go see his body? 

More months pass, and Daisy is now a little over a year old. Dean has become worse, and he occasionally brings another man over. His mom is tired often, her eyes lacking any sort of life within them. She doesn’t love the man she sleeps with, but she continues because he has given her a house and money. Something neither she nor Eggsy have. And Eggsy tries, GOD does he try. He works odd jobs here and there, something to get a little bit of cash in his pocket, which he spends on new clothes for him and Daisy. At some point at a club, Eggsy socializes with a boy who tells him about how much money he would make if he was a rent boy. Eggsy is told how he’s attractive and customers would pay a lot to sleep with someone like him.

And so Eggsy does it, for a short while. He waits at the club for new “clients,” and soon they’re in a hotel, doing things behind closed doors that Eggsy doesn’t even want to have to think about again. But the boy was right, it is very well paying. And Eggsy is able to put some money to the side. He isn’t sure what to use it for. School for Daisy or maybe a new house? He saves a large amount of money and he prides himself in his sucess, but after a few more months, the funds run dry after Eggsy gets into a fight with one of Dean’s boys. The money is used for the doctor and medical supplies, and Eggsy starts again at square one.

Daisy is now 2, and Eggsy has a strapped up pile of bills sitting under his mattress. His clients have become irregular, so he’s begun taking up the odd jobs once again. He thinks things are finally getting better for him, until he’s at the club and he realizes that Dean’s boys are too. He doesn’t notice it right away. He notices it when he’s in the back corner, trying to sneak out with a client. It’s clear what is going on, and soon his secret is spilled. His mom seems ashamed, but doesn’t say anything because she knows how much Eggsy loves her and how much he wants for her to get out of the house.

The season passes and Eggsy joins his friends at the pub. He’s had a bad day, maybe week at this point. And he wants nothing more than to drink with his friends. Of course he’s followed by the gang, but he figured that as long as all goes well, he can ignore them. He’s wrong, and within the night, he’s being questioned in jail. The whole time he’s there, he realizes that if he stays the 18 months, he’ll be leaving his mom alone with Dean. And Daisy. No one will be able to protect them. And he panics. He needs the favor, he needs to protect them. He needs someone to come down and protect them while he serves his time. And so he pulls the medal from his neck and tries to remember the motto that danced in his head within the last near 20 years of his life.


	2. 15/24 Hours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pretty much a quick personal take on the good chunk of time Eggsy spent training

_But I still don't understand_  
_Just how the love your doing no one else can_  
_Got me looking so crazy right now_  
_Your love's got me looking so crazy right now_

The man that meets him at the police station hours later says nothing more than “Eggsy. Would you like a lift home?” And Eggsy sits there and wonders who this posh gentleman is. But the man seems to be someone Eggsy wants to steer clear of, he’s way too ambiguous and he’s holding too many secrets. Plus, at this rate it seems like even if he did get out of the police station early, the whole world still has it out for him.  
  
“My name is Harry Hart, and I gave you that medal,” the man speaks.  
  
Oh. Ohhhh. Suddenly things are clicking in Eggsy’s head, and they take a cab to the pub to talk some more. It was Eggsy’s idea, since all he wants is nothing more than to drink and relax. In the cab, the man is fascinated by what is outside the window and Eggsy is trying to focus on something other than how amazing that suit looked. _I outta get myself one of em,_ he thinks to himself while trying to imagine what he’d look like.  
  
At the pub, they discuss Eggsy’s life (but none of Harry’s which he thinks is 100% unfair) and he gets a bit bright eyed when his father is mentioned. It’s amazing to him, that there is someone who knew his father and would actually tell him stories. His mom tried to keep Lee in Eggsy’s heart, but as much as she missed him, she worried too much about her current situation.  
  
The time Eggsy and Harry spend _MOSTLY_ happily drinking is cut short when Dean’s boys arrive, and Eggsy tries to hide his unhappiness when Harry actually gets up and walks away as he is told. And Eggsy is hit in the chest even more so when Harry hears “If you're looking for another rent boy, they're on the corner of Smith street.”  
  
Harry will probably want nothing to do with him now, knowing that Lee’s son, the one that he’s learned so much about, was a rent boy. That he was essentially selling himself because he was nothing like his father but he didn’t want to end up any further into the shithole than he was in already. He just wants Harry to actually leave. To go home and not look back at his sorry face. But he’s taken completely by surprise when Harry reacts by literally beating the shit out of the boys. And when Harry sits back down, drinking the rest of his Guiness, he isn’t sure whether to be amazed or in total fear. He still isn’t sure what to think as he watches Harry’s back as he leaves the pub.  
  
The next few hours are even more of a blur than earlier-he goes home to find that Dean has gone absolutely mental and is brandishing a butchers knife in the air as if it held no danger. His mom is screaming and Daisy is yelling in the background, but somewhere, Harry’s voice travels, and he immediately begins to map a route to the tailor shop as he is told. Of course, an exit couldn’t be THAT easy, and Dean’s boys are somehow at his front door. It takes some free running to get them off his tail, but he is eventually free. It’s dark when he gets to the tailor shop, and he’s so exhausted at this point, but the coziness of the tailor shop is welcoming.  
  
“I've never met a tailor before, but I know you ain't one.”  
  
Harry gives a internal sigh as he finishes his drink and stands up, giving a sign for Eggsy to follow him. They stand in a fitting room together, and Eggsy gets a good look at himself. He’s undeniably exhausted, there are visible bags under his eyes. He’s dressed way too casual compared to Harry, and at this moment he’s wondering even moreso, what the hell is going on. “Trading Places? Nikita? Pretty Woman?” Eggsy has heard none of these movies before, god how OLD is Harry? He’s not really wrinkly, and he can kick ass so he has to be at least early 50’s. MAYBE late 40’s if he just doesn’t age well. “Like My Fair Lady.” The conversation continues on, and in that moment, Eggsy sees a bit of softness flash across Harry’s face, as if he’s smiling on the inside, but is too scared to do so on the outside.  
  
If the last few hours were a blur, the next few months are even more so. 6 months he’s away from home, 6 months he’s spent hanging with the other recruits, and 6 months he’s spending with Harry. Or well, by his bedside while the other is in a coma. But when Harry is awake, Eggsy can’t stop peacocking. He’s so proud of himself and what he has become. This is nothing like his Marines training-hes shaping to be an entirely different person in general, someone whom he never thought he could ever be. _Like in My Fair Lady,_ he rethinks to the fitting room conversation.  
  
The number of recruits dwindle down tremendously, and soon it’s just him, Charlie and Roxy. He and Roxy see eye to eye on a lot of things, and Eggsy immediately knows that whatever happens, they’ll be great friends. “If you ever need help flirting with the ladies, I’m your man,” she tells him spontaneously one day and he laughs so abruptly that he nearly shoots water out of his mouth. “Who knows when we’ll be able to have fun again, like normal people, so whenever we do, we have to make it the best night we have ever had.”  
  
And that’s when Eggsy realizes that if he doesn’t make it, he doesn’t have anything back at home. Sure, he’s got the Kingsman experience, but you can’t exactly apply that to your resume. He goes to Harry’s office one day, and sits on the chair adjacent to the desk, and just rambles to Harry about how worried he is. Harry puts his pen down and smiles at him before saying, “My dear boy, you have nothing to be fearful of.” And in that moment, Eggsy must think he’s floating because between being called “dear boy” and having Harry’s eyes look at him as fondly as they are, he thinks he’s in some sort of dream.  
  
It takes him awhile to realize how long this “floating” feeling will last, because he starts to notice that it only comes up whenever he’s around Harry. And soon he’s wanting to be near his mentor more than not, and he can’t even hide it anymore. “You’re an open book,” Roxy tells him one night as they groom their dogs. “The way you smile at him, you’d think he was the sun and you were stuck in a dark pit this whole time.”  
  
“Shhh it ain’t that bad,” Eggsy laughs while stroking JB’s fur. But oh, it is so bad So bad in fact that when it’s just him and Roxy, when he is told they have a full 24 hours to spend with their mentors, he just can’t stop thinking about all the things he wants to do. _We should go to a café shop for a date, maybe spar a bit, or watch some movies,_ Eggsy thinks to himself before shaking his head clear of the thoughts. It’s nearly night time and they arrive at Harry’s house, which is a lot more old-fashioned than Eggsy thought it would be.  
  
The night goes about normally, with Eggsy asking Harry about his time spent at Kingsman and about his trials that led to him adopting the codename Galahad. “I’m afraid I can’t reveal too much about it, Eggsy,” Harry had apologized, but told the boy what he could. He was dressed down, sitting in his home office in a relaxed state as Eggsy strolled the room. Eggsy admired the newspaper clippings that hung on the wall in a perfect manner, and wondered if there were more hiding elsewhere. As he read the articles, he was absolutely certain that Harry was watching him with every step that he took. A quick turn of the head proved that to be true, with Harry’s eyes focused on the boy. And so he turned up the charm, swinging his hips as he walked, and giving Harry half lidded stares whenever he asked a question.  
  
The mood completely shifted when Eggsy was lectured about how a gentleman should not appear in the newspaper more than three times in his life. _Well I can count at least 3 others times I was mentioned already,_ Eggsy thought to himself. He couldn’t control the frown that took his face, he was already such a disappointment. Sure, he could wear the title of Kingsman, but deep inside, was he actually one? He looked at Harry, who took a sigh and begin to sit up.  
  
“Second lesson... how to make a proper martini.”  
  
“Yes, Harry.” Alcohol? That he could do.  
  
He doesn’t know how many martinis they have, or how many pseudo martinis are made, but all Eggsy knows is that there are empty glasses on the table and he’s definitely feeling incredibly light on his feet. It’s only been 4 of the 24 hours, but Harry insisted that he got the drink right as it was incredibly important. And then they began to sample some of the bottles that Harry stashed in his kitchen, and Eggsy wishes he could remember the names of them in the morning. But he can’t remember the names when he wakes up.  
  
He does remember asking Harry, both in a borderline drunk state, how to tie a tie. “I was never taught.” Harry had tried to teach him, but with his hands and arms wrapped around Eggsy, tension became thick, and the tie became all but forgotten. Eggsy REALLY doesn’t remember much, he does remember rough hands touching him all over the place, he remembers noises from Harry that he thought he’d never hear. And he remembers a moment so passionate and intimate that he feels like he was definitely still dreaming when it happened.  
  
But he wasn’t dreaming, because it’s early-o clock in the morning and he’s nearly naked, Harry’s arm draped over his body. He feels gross and sweaty and wants nothing more than to shower but he has no idea where the bathroom even is at this point. He takes out his phone and swipes the screen to life, where there is a single text from Roxy on the screen.  
  
_9 more hours to go! Hope your 24 hours is better than mine! Merlin doesn’t sleep and he’s been giving me so much repetitive information that I think he should nap and reset himself :(_  
  
Eggsy, almost laughs but he shuts the screen off, trying to ignore his appearance in the reflection.  
15 hours down, 9 more to go.

  



End file.
